June 21

2 Samuel 14

1Now it was clear to Joab, the son of Zeruiah, that the king’s heart was turning to Absalom.

2And Joab sent to Tekoa and got from there a wise woman, and said to her, Now make yourself seem like one given up to grief, and put on the clothing of sorrow, not using any sweet oil for your body, but looking like one who for a long time has been weeping for the dead:

3And come to the king and say these words to him. So Joab gave her words to say.

4And the woman of Tekoa came to the king, and falling on her face, gave him honour and said, Give me help, O king.

5And the king said to her, What is your trouble? And her answer was, Truly I am a widow, and my husband is dead.

6And I had two sons, and the two of them had a fight in the field, and there was no one to come between them, and one with a blow put the other to death.

7And now all the family is turned against me, your servant, saying, Give up him who was the cause of his brother’s death, so that we may put him to death in payment for the life of his brother, whose life he took; and we will put an end to the one who will get the heritage: so they will put out my last burning coal, and my husband will have no name or offspring on the face of the earth.

8And the king said to the woman, Go to your house and I will give orders about this.

9And the woman of Tekoa said to the king, My lord, O king, may the sin be on me and on my family, and may the king and the seat of his kingdom be clear of sin!

10And the king said, If anyone says anything to you, make him come to me, and he will do you no more damage.

11Then she said, Let the king keep in mind the Lord your God, so that he who gives punishment for blood may be kept back from further destruction and that no one may send death on my son. And he said, By the living Lord, not a hair of your son’s head will come to the earth.

12Then the woman said, Will the king let his servant say one word more? And he said, Say on.

13And the woman said, Why have you had such a thought about the people of God? (for in saying these very words the king has put himself in the wrong because he has not taken back the one whom he sent far away.)

14For death comes to us all, and we are like water drained out on the earth, which it is not possible to take up again; and God will not take away the life of the man whose purpose is that he who has been sent away may not be completely cut off from him.

15And now it is my fear of the people which has made me come to say these words to my lord the king: and your servant said, I will put my cause before the king, and it may be that he will give effect to my request.

16For the king will give ear, and take his servant out of the power of the man whose purpose is the destruction of me and my son together from the heritage of God.

17Then your servant said, May the word of my lord the king give me peace! for my lord the king is as the angel of God in his hearing of good and bad: and may the Lord your God be with you!

18Then the king said to the woman, Now give me an answer to the question I am going to put to you; keep nothing back. And the woman said, Let my lord the king say on.

19And the king said, Is not the hand of Joab with you in all this? And the woman in answer said, By the life of your soul, my lord the king, it is not possible for anyone to go to the right hand or to the left from anything said by the king: your servant Joab gave me orders, and put all these words in my mouth:

20This he did, hoping that the face of this business might be changed: and my lord is wise, with the wisdom of the angel of God, having knowledge of everything on earth.

21And the king said to Joab, See now, I will do this thing: go then and Come back with the young man Absalom.

22Then Joab, falling down on his face on the earth, gave the king honour and blessing; and Joab said, Today it is clear to your servant that I have grace in your eyes, my lord king, because the king has given effect to the request of his servant.

23So Joab got up and went to Geshur and came back again to Jerusalem with Absalom.

24And the king said, Let him go to his house, but let him not see my face. So Absalom went back to his house and did not see the face of the king.

25Now in all Israel there was no one so greatly to be praised for his beautiful form as Absalom: from his feet to the crown of his head he was completely beautiful.

26And when he had his hair cut, (which he did at the end of every year, because of the weight of his hair;) the weight of the hair was two hundred shekels by the king’s weight.

27And Absalom was the father of three sons and of one daughter named Tamar, who was very beautiful.

28For two full years Absalom was living in Jerusalem without ever seeing the face of the king.

29Then Absalom sent for Joab to send him to the king, but he would not come to him: and he sent again a second time, but he would not come.

30So he said to his servants, See, Joab’s field is near mine, and he has barley in it; go and put it on fire. And Absalom’s servants put the field on fire.

31Then Joab came to Absalom in his house and said to him, Why have your servants put my field on fire?

32And Absalom’s answer was, See, I sent to you saying, Come here, so that I may send you to the king to say, Why have I come back from Geshur? it would be better for me to be there still: let me now see the king’s face, and if there is any sin in me, let him put me to death.

33So Joab went to the king and said these words to him: and when the king had sent for him, Absalom came, and went down on his face on the earth before the king: and the king gave him a kiss.

Daniel 8

1In the third year of the rule of Belshazzar the king, a vision was seen by me, Daniel, after the one I saw at first.

2And I saw in the vision; and when I saw it, I was in the strong town Shushan, which is in the country of Elam; and in the vision I was by the water-door of the Ulai.

3And lifting up my eyes, I saw, there before the stream, a male sheep with two horns: and the two horns were high, but one was higher than the other, the higher one coming up last.

4I saw the sheep pushing to the west and to the north and to the south; and no beasts were able to keep their place before him, and no one was able to get people out of his power; but he did whatever his pleasure was and made himself great.

5And while I was giving thought to this, I saw a he-goat coming from the west over the face of all the earth without touching the earth: and the he-goat had a great horn between his eyes.

6And he came to the two-horned sheep which I saw before the stream, rushing at him in the heat of his power.

7And I saw him come right up to the sheep, and he was moved with wrath against him, attacking the sheep so that his two horns were broken; and the sheep had not strength to keep his place before him, but was pushed down on the earth and crushed under his feet: and there was no one to get the sheep out of his power.

8And the he-goat became very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken, and in its place came up four other horns turned to the four winds of heaven.

9And out of one of them came another horn, a little one, which became very great, stretching to the south and to the east and to the beautiful land.

10And it became great, even as high as the army of heaven, pulling down some of the army, even of the stars, to the earth and crushing them under its feet.

11It made itself great, even as great as the lord of the army; and by it the regular burned offering was taken away, and the place overturned and the holy place made waste.

12… against the regular burned offering; and … crushed down to the earth, and it did its pleasure and things went well for it.

13Then there came to my ears the voice of a holy one talking; and another holy one said to that certain one who was talking, How long will the vision be while the regular burned offering is taken away, and the unclean thing causing fear is put up, and the holy place crushed under foot?

14And he said to him, For two thousand, three hundred evenings and mornings; then the holy place will be made clean.

15And it came about that when I, Daniel, had seen this vision, I had a desire for the sense of it to be unfolded; and I saw one before me in the form of a man.

16And the voice of a man came to my ears between the sides of the Ulai, crying out and saying, Gabriel, make the vision clear to this man.

17So he came and took his place near where I was; and when he came, I was full of fear and went down on my face: but he said to me, Let it be clear to you, O son of man; for the vision has to do with the time of the end.

18Now while he was talking to me, I went into a deep sleep with my face to the earth: but touching me, he put me on my feet where I had been.

19And he said, See, I will make clear to you what is to come in the later time of the wrath: for it has to do with the fixed time of the end.

20The sheep which you saw with two horns, they are the kings of Media and Persia.

21And the he-goat is the king of Greece: and the great horn between his eyes is the first king.

22And as for that which was broken, in place of which four came up, four kingdoms will come up from his nation, but not with his power.

23And in the later years of their kingdom, when their evil doings have become complete, there will come up a king full of pride and expert in dark sayings.

24And his power will be great, and he will be purposing strange things. And all will go well for him and he will do his pleasure; and he will send destruction on the strong ones.

25And his designs will be turned against the holy people, causing deceit to do well in his hand; in his heart he will make himself great, and send destruction on numbers who are living unconscious of their danger; and he will put himself up against the prince of princes; but he will be broken, though not by men’s hands.

26And the vision of evenings and mornings which has been talked of is true: and keep the vision secret; for it has to do with the far-off future.

27And I, Daniel, was ill for some days; then I got up and did the king’s business: and I was full of wonder at the vision, but no one was able to give the sense of it.

Mark 5:21-43

21And when Jesus had gone over again in the boat to the other side, a great number of people came to him: and he was by the sea.

22And one of the rulers of the Synagogue, Jairus by name, came, and seeing him, went down at his feet,

23And made strong prayers to him, saying, My little daughter is near to death: it is my prayer that you will come and put your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and have life.

24And he went with him; and a great number of people went after him, and came round him.

25And a woman, who had had a flow of blood for twelve years,

26And had undergone much at the hands of a number of medical men, and had given all she had, and was no better, but even worse,

27When she had news of the things which Jesus did, went among the people coming after him, and put her hand on his robe.

28For she said, If I may only put my hand on his robe, I will be made well.

29And straight away the fountain of her blood was stopped, and she had a feeling in her body that her disease had gone and she was well.

30And straight away Jesus was conscious that power had gone out of him; and, turning to the people, he said, Who was touching my robe?

31And his disciples said to him, You see the people round you on every side, and you say, Who was touching me?

32And on his looking round to see her who had done this thing,

33The woman, shaking with fear, conscious of what had been done to her, came and, falling on her face before him, gave him a true account of everything.

34And he said to her, Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be free from your disease.

35And while he was still talking, they came from the ruler of the Synagogue’s house, saying, Your daughter is dead: why are you still troubling the Master?

36But Jesus, giving no attention to their words, said to the ruler of the Synagogue, Have no fear, only have faith.

37And he did not let anyone come with him, but Peter and James and John, the brother of James.

38And they came to the house of the ruler of the Synagogue; and he saw people running this way and that, and weeping and crying loudly.

39And when he had gone in, he said to them, Why are you making such a noise and weeping? The child is not dead, but sleeping.

40And they were laughing at him. But he, having sent them all out, took the father of the child and her mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was.

41And taking her by the hand, he said to her, Talitha cumi, which is, My child, I say to you, Get up.

42And the young girl got up straight away, and was walking about; she being twelve years old. And they were overcome with wonder.

43And he gave them special orders that they were not to say anything of this; and he said that some food was to be given to her.